The next 6 posts

will be about my cruise to mexico! We drove to my cousin's house in Brea last Friday and got home late last night. So enjoy the dozens of pictures and have lots of fun reading about how much fun I had.

Cabo San Lucas

YO AMO MEXICO!


This was our favorite place. We Kayaked to a beach where we snorkeled! There was hundreds of colorful, big fish swimming right up to us. So cool.


And remember how I said in an earlier post that I wanted to open my eyes from sleeping and see that view? Well I literally opened my curtains and saw the same rock formations. soooo cool. what a coincidence.

Puerto Vallarta

A statue of whales

The ciudad

We went ziplining in the jungle! Here's us in our gear! We went down 11 ziplines 100 feet above ground and it was so freaky. See-through tree platforms ahhh!

The jungle and the truck we drove 2 hours in to get there

Mazatlan

We just got a taxi and toured the town. It was the best. My dad just spoke spanish to the driver the entire time while the 3 girls (mom, gina, me) sat in the back seat.

Mazatlan is a shrimp fishing town. Look at those massive shrimpsies!

Gina didn't love the seafood. My parents got a virus from it we think.

The cathedral

The daily towel

a monkey hanging from the curtains. Yikes.

two? elephants?

the easter bunny came by for a visit!

We don't know what this is but it looked cross-eyed.

of course the frog

The meals

escargos

ensalade

surf & turf...I ate 3 lobster tails :)

We ate. so. much.

I am taking a break from lots of types of food for a while.

Last Song

A week ago my mom, dad, sister, and I drove to Brea, California to stay the night with my cousins.

Luckily we arrived in time to catch the matinee showing of "Last Song" with Miley Cyrus.
It's everything you expect a Nicholas Sparks plot to be.

I'm back!
boy do I have a lot to tell YOU.

April Fooling

Cute fifth grade boy, class clown, with a fro that looks like a weeping willow, kept taping paper "fish" to the backs of students and made a humongous one for Mrs. Draper.

He made one for me too, but I always caught him before he could successfully attach it to me.

Walking out of the school, a coworker said, "You have something on your back." I smiled at the thought of froboy's stealth.

I have no idea when he could have done it, because it had to be after I put on my coat at the end of the day. When I removed the fish, fastened with duct tape, it had a note on it:
*
"Ha Ha
I got you.
--Liam"

(*pshyeah my cellular can't take pics. But I wanted to capture the shape of his paper fish and the glimpse of duct tape. The fish is now taped to my mirror, it makes me giggle.)

Shape Ups

How much would you have to get paid to wear sketchers shape ups for one week?




My sister's response was if she could tell people she was getting paid to wear them, she would do it for $20. If she couldn't, she'd do it for $150.

Daffodils

don't close up when it's dark outside. They just stay open, all night!



such a pwetty, fwendwy fwower.

blogger STALKAGE: are you a victim?

Whenever I overhear the word "blog" leaving someone's lips, I think of how badly I want to visit their blog!

So I did some stalkage and found a few of the ones I've been on the prowl for. (I always forget I'm on the prowl for them once I get online but this time was DIFFERENT!)

So go ahead, do some stalkage yourself. Check out my blog list and fall in love with the people I love. Isn't it fun when you are on a friend of a friend of a friend's page? so fun. Share experiences please.

Profundo

Sorry this blog isn't more profound.

You can find profound posts here and here though.

Oh Disney, you've done it again.

This is a video illustrating how Disney uses templates to produce movies. So interesting!

600 palabras

I am learning Spanish! I don't know if it will really work. But I have this itouch app that teaches me 100 words per day and so far I am retaining 75% of what I learn! So when I go to Mexico on Saturday we will see if it can be applied to real life...I will let you know how it goes.

Unless you hate children:

If ever you are having a bad day, just go where there are children. My bad days end at 11:45 when I walk into a second grade classroom.

silk ties dying on eggs!

Guess what happened last night.

I tie-dyed easter eggs!

But not like hippie craziness. Literally used a TIE to dye them. Turns out so beautiful and you get this big confidence boost like "wow. I am an artist."
borderline plagerism, but you get the idea.



HERE'S HOW!

Materials and Tools
Small- to medium-size raw eggs
Glass or enamel pot
Silk ties, blouses, or boxers, cut into pieces large enough to cover an egg
White sheets (or pillowcases or old tablecloths), cut into pieces to cover silk-wrapped eggs
Twist ties
3 tablespoons of white vinegar
Warm water
Vegetable oil
Paper towels
Tongs or spoon

Silk Tie Easter Eggs How-To
1. Cut silk into a square (or a piece) large enough to wrap around a raw egg.

2. Wrap a raw egg with a piece of silk, making sure the printed side of the material is facing the egg. Silk can still be used if it doesn't fit perfectly around egg.

3. Place the silk-wrapped egg in a piece of white sheet, pillowcase, or old tablecloth and secure tightly with a twist-tie.

4. Place the egg(s) in an enamel or glass pot. Fill pot with water to cover eggs completely. Then, add three tablespoons of white vinegar.

5. Bring water to a boil, turn heat down, and simmer for 20 minutes (longer if you plan on eating the eggs).

6. Remove eggs from water with tongs or spoon and let cool.

7. Remove silk from cooled egg.

8. For shiny eggs, wipe with vegetable oil after completing step 7.

Resources
Silk goods such as ties, blouses, and boxers can be purchased at rummage sales or thrift stores. Silk can be reused on eggs.

win a gift card already.

Just do this by midnight today.

My brother is the PR for the American Fork hospital so just go on the facebook page, become a fan, and post any basketball/byu related picture. You will then have the chance of winning a $25 gift card AND 2 movie tickets. There are only like 4 pictures so we have a good chance guys.

This is the picture I posted:



You can't even tell what is going on huh.

Current occupation...of my mind

Just this cruise my sister and I are going on. We got a steal of a deal steal so it just made sense. (cents?)



10 days away. And I feel like the past two days have gone by sooo slow. Sunday feels like a week ago. Can I just hibernate for 10 days do you think? Then the next time I open my eyes I will see:



magical things.

And my pops and I are going zip lining in the jungle! Of course my mom and sis are being wussies and won't go. "waahhh I can't handle adventures!" Those stinkers. Oh man I can't wait to have something else to think back on and just treasure.

twelve

I was teaching a small group of 5th grade boys today and as I was drawing shapes and congruent lines they started laughing...like they had this inside joke about what I was drawing.
me: Will you stop acting like you're twelve?!
boy1: I am twelve!
we all start laughing
boy2: I'm going to wet my pants!

Yep. Sometimes I have to re-realize that they are twelve.

Happy St. Patricks!

Oh how I love our fam tradition of St. Patrick's day.
Ever since I can REMEMBER we've always had

• corned beef (which daron referred to as "red cow" all night. "Hallie. Pass me the red cow.")
• cabbage
• carrots
• onion
• soda bread with raisins

Then we kind of just do these things out of the sake of greenness, not necessarily an irish thing:
lime italian soda...errr...lime IRISH soda
this cake junk...which I never love (no offense mom) but it's green! It's white cake with surprises of pistachio pudding and green whipped topping!

And of course beer on tap! JK got ya.

Some of the things that happened during dinner:

1. chasing my nieces and nephews around, pinching them. They were wearing green but who made that rule anyway.
2. My brother was disciplining my nephew: "That is why I have to be strong with you right now, Ty..." Ty: "But I'm stronger than you are!"
3. Seth bringing a "wand" and casting three HP spells on everyone. I couldn't stand it anymore, the kid needed more to work off of! So I had him get my iTouch, we looked up wrote down 18 of our favorite spells. His favorite is the Imperious Curse, one of the three unforgivable. (IMPERIO!)

Hope you wore green. Either way, consider yourself digitally PINCHED!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians! (no spoilers :)

Percy Jackson is a son of a mythological god! And for all he knew he just had adhd and other behavioral disorders (see how easily we can relate.) But he gets introduced to other half-bloods and mythological peeps! It's a lot of fun. They go on these quests to defeat evil.

Just look at these characters! Don't they look so interesting? They really are.



I got hooked when I had to sub for fifth grade. They are reading it as a class and while they were doing an assignment I started to read it. I kind of skimmed at first because I didn't want to commit to what I knew would be a serious addiction.

But here I am, having read four of the five books! Can't wait to start the fifth. The fifth graders see me with a different book every day and we have so much fun being nerdy together. One student just bought The Ultimate Guide; a handbook to the Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Guess what we'll be doing at recess tomorrow?

Loving this song right now

I let it sing me to sleep and when I woke up guess what?

It was playing in my head.

moments

my family was gathered in the front room, having an enjoyable conversation. I come out from behind the couch and pretend to shoot everyone.
brother: what was THAT?
Gina: that was Hallie.

At costco:
On our way out, in the "receipt check" line, I find it irresistible to push every button of the vending machines lining the wall. So I do, as quickly as possible.
I happened to be wearing my red pants that day.
Gina: "I think what you wear affects the way you act"

Dropping by Gina's apartment, we pull up to an identical Honda civic. (Gina drives one) It is gray. Gina's is dark blue.
Gina, on her way out of the car: "One morning I tried to get into her car thinking it was mine. I was so confused."
Mom: "For such intelligent girls, you two are totally ditsy"

This is what I think about the snow

Substituting kindergarten on Dr. Seuss's bday.

their real teacher told them yesterday that they were going to have a birthday party for Dr. Seuss today. And they had great expectations.

She gave me a video to show them, of the still frame shots of a boring dr. seuss book, does that count for a birthday party?

Not according to the cute lil 5 year olds. All the live long day and as I finally put in the movie, I never heard the end of it:
"If it's a birthday party there must be a CAKE!"
"Teacher where is the cake?"
"Teacher I'm HUNGRY!"
"Teacher when is the party?"

So I stopped the movie, apologized, told them the movie was the party. Poor little chillens. I would've made them a cake if I knew that is what they expected :) a red and white stripped cake. with a cat face. and whiskers. edible whiskers.

Another dose of vid for ye

So in watching that vid I posted last, I thought how cute taylor swift music video clips were. so my friend nat and I looked it up and we love it. So will you. Just watch it ok? And don't be mad that I posted three videos.

So last year

but I found this to be very clever and entertaining! It's the top 25 songs of last year all mashed up.



And I like 2008's as well:



It's good besides the random "disturbia" clips. Ew, right?

my gramma

has a key to the stake center.

Where's the nearest kinko's gramma?

"Oh, you don't need to go kinko's!" So she drove gina and i to the stake house this morning so gina could make copies of her resume and letters of recommendation.

kehehe sneaky gramma.

it's funny how you learn more about people after spending your whole life with them

that is how i feel on this trip with my sister. i have seen sides of her i haven't seen before and i love her more because of it.

I went on this trip knowing my needs and wishes would come second...for the first time in my life probably. the purpose of this trip was to make my sister's life as easy as possible. And after hours spent alone, waiting, while she was in interviews or visiting new sites that would be her life from now on, I realized these are the places that would tear us apart, move her away from me. And here I am, encouraging it all along.

roadtrips save my life

Hallie, what were you just doing?

Oh, nothing. I was actually just getting some lemons.

Lemons, huh. From the store?

Oh, no no no. Just outside! I picked them from my grandmother's tree and they are so ripe my hands smell like lemons and they are as big as a softballish! Now I'm going to see if her grapefruit, orange and tangerines trees are ripe.
...haha yeah. All ripe and I am eating them ALL!

Oh Hal I am so jealous of you right now! Anything else cool going on?

Well There is this bird that I woke up to...I thought it sounded like a car alarm. He's still chirping away! I found a video of his brother, looks like he's a clever little mockingbird!




well sounds like you're having fun in Arizona Hallie. Just out of curiousity, what temperature is it right now?

Let me see...oh, well it's only 9am but it's 56.3 degrees.

For favorite posts on Grandma/Arizona visits:
see here,
here,
and, my personal favorite: here

The Rec!

It was snowing yesterday so I got ready to go to the indoor track at BYU.
Well I called beforehand just in case and it was closed till noon =(
So my mommy gave me $4 to go to the orem recreation center.

I love the rec! That's what we call it. It brings back fond memories of swim team, childhood swimming lessons, oh man here's a good one:
I was like five and I was in swimming lessons. two of my aunts and my mom were watching us from the balcony and there was a metal railing right in front of them. I didn't want my aunt to watch me so I would move in a place and align the railing between our eyes so it would make her blind and not see me.

Anyways so flash forward back to yesterday. $4 for ONE visit!?!? What a load of [insert word of choice]! I went to the Zumba class where there were like 100 ladies dancing crazy and it was fun to just dance crazy. Then I'm like. I want to listen to my own music and do my own thing. So I did the elliptical next to an old man. I look around. There is no one my age here. They are all old people. Oh well though right?

When I got home I realized. I DIDN'T GO IN THE SAUNA! I really wanted to go! And I paid $4 and didn't go to the sauna! I really wanted to detoxify my skin. So I turned the shower on blazing hot and filled up the tub that way instead of through the faucet. And the air in there was so thick. So I made my own sauna of sorts. It sufficed. Prolly better than being in an enclosed spaced with old people. Yeah I'm claustrophobic too. Oh good I'm glad it worked out that way now that I think of it =)

2 oz, Medium.

My parents and I were watching the weather together.
Gina had just left, announcing how she was angry, but for no apparent reason.
Dad looks at me and says: "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine"
"You're holding your hand up to your forehead, something's wrong"
Something was wrong. He just didn't know what it was and I wasn't going to tell him...because he would share his opinion and that would make the situation worse.
"Want me to make you some of that fish?"
This is weird...my dad never cooks, let alone for someone else!
"Nah, I don't want that"
"How about some chicken" Mom offered
"I don't want any of that"
Dad, walking over to the fridge. "Oh, here's some hamburger!"
"Yeah, I'll just make myself something in a minute"
Pulling out his steak that he brought home from going out Tuesday "Have this steak! There's gotta be 3 ounces in this piece."
Took out weigher, weighed it.
"OK, two ounces!"
"Are you sure dad? Don't you want it?"
"Of course I want it but I want you to have it because I love you"
I almost lost it right there. Over a two ounce piece of medium steak. My dad is a sweetheart.

One of the best parts of being at elementary school

Is having an unlimited supply of Bill Nye available.



They have hundreds of episodes at my disposal.

What's wrong with you, Hallie?

I have yet to get into the olympics.

Is anyone really into them?

1:41

I'm not a fan of phone conversations.

I wondered what the average talking time on my phone was, so I averaged my last 50 calls. A minute and forty-one seconds! In that amount of time you can most definitely state why you called and/or what you want with me.

< 3

Happy Valentine's Day!

fake pregnancy

Yesterday I saw a commercial for this item:


Last night I had a dream that I used this First Response Gold digital test 3 times within two days and each time it said "YES." Still dreaming, I told Gina about it and she asked me if it was possible and I had to really think about it. I told her I couldn't remember. Then I went off about how it gets cloudy when you kiss people and sometimes you can't remember because it gets cloudy.

Reminiscent

I like work :)

I am getting to know the 5th grade kids that I read with, practice math facts with, etc.

Me: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
K: No.
Me: So you are the only child?
she thinks for a few seconds...
K: No, I do have brothers and a sister but none with opposable thumbs.
Me: What are their names?
K: Daisy, Timber and Mika

I don't ask about the thumbs because I don't want to be rude...

Later in the conversation:
Me: What do you like to do for fun
K: go dog sledding
Me: Oh you go dog sledding? With your dogs?
K: Yeah with Mika
Me: Oh so your brothers and sisters are your dogs?
K: Yes.
Me: What is your favorite food?
K: Sushi.

This girl rocks.

Oh how we love facebook

because it puts ideas in my head. Like, "hey, type your name at urbandictionary.com and see what it says!"

So I do. it has 3 definitions. The first one:
"The nicest girl in the room. Everyone is drawn to her because of her beauty and her radiance."

The second one is offensive.

but then I feel all better with the last definition:
"Usually one who plays with Dora the Explorer, and sings Hannah Montana."

I would have to agree.

Just life at the moment.

I am an aide at the school that I love.
My sister and I have already had a pretend fight in the hall...the assistant principal walked by. Hey, this is what they get for nepotism. Jk I really am legit.

rofl Gina just walked in with half her FACE numb because she just got back from the dentist.
"mom I don't fing duh twee was wun ovuh by duh conswucion...oh cwap." (mom i don't think the tree was run over by the construction...oh crap)
"dat's wasads bagg!" (that's wasatch back...referring to the weather forecast)
I couldn't stop laughing.
"staub!" (stop)

Watching Emma and loving it. I have to wait till Sunday for the final episode. Those jerks at Masterpiece Classics better watch it!

I am starting this diet thing...started yesterday. I did it last summer and was very successful. but there are side effects which include but are not limited to: anger, desire to commit homicide, brief episodes of drama, and vertigo. Because I love food so much but I have to control that love. So sorry in advance. NO I am not on drugs.

payday

Yesterday I received my first paycheck since my custodial job in August. I went straight to the bank and deposited it. What a beautiful feeling it is to have an income!


And yes I did start substituting December 5th and yes it took them this long to give me my first paycheck :) The anticipation and impatience made this occasion even better.

The Rotation System

I was helping my mom sift through her closet, giving up half of her clothes to DI. The determinig factor when I give stuff away to DI is "have I worn this in the past year?" and "Has it survived the rotation system?"

Rotation system? You may wonder.

It's brilliant. And I didn't think much of it until I told my mom about it. It's just one of the quirky things I do that is so normal to me, ya know?

• I organize my clothing into sections, as I am sure all of you do: a pants section, a skirt/dress section, and a shirt/blouse/tops section.
• I have my pants on the left side and my shirts on the right side.
• I wear what is closest to the middle...or as close to the middle as possible...can't wear brown pants with a bright green shirt ya know!
• After wearing that, I place it in the back of that section. So the pants would go behind all the other pants and the shirt would go behind all the shirts, farthest from the middle.
• When I do my wash, I place all those clothes in the back of their sections because I have recently worn them and the other clothes need a chance now!
• When I find a shirt is staying in the middle for a while and I never want to wear it, it goes to DI! Unless it's like fancy then it goes to the unrotated very very back section. Everyone has those right? hahaha lol. yeah you are totally saying "oh my gosh I have that too!"
  
• Same with Sunday skirts/dresses. The rotation system is my favorite for Sunday clothes because I can go to church confidently, knowing what I wore last week is not to be worn again for a while!

You need to try it. It really works. Dudes can use it for hats and ties and even socks as well! You can use it for anything! Celebs should use it to rotate through their houses and cars! Use it with the cereal you eat! The friends you hang out with! JK please don't.

And if you don't want to do this for yourself, do it for your clothes. because think how you would feel if you were a shirt always in the back of your closet. The rotation system would be your only hope to get worn.

My sister made the herald!

Yay for Gina! Finally in the spotlight after working all these years at a title I school. Congratulations, sister!

Masterpiece Classics: Emma

YAY! Emma was on last night and my mommy recorded it! I can't wait to watch it. Masterpiece Classics are dumb when that lady talks in the beginning but they are really actually quite good if you just fast-forward through it.

Next time Emma is on: Tues at 2am

So you can watch it recorded at my house if you want.